Needed Changes to Summons

Dot_Warner

There are four major problems with summons in UO:

1. Controllable summons aren't worth the mana in most cases, generally having the fortitude of wet tissue paper 
2. Controllable summons can't be used in towns (for obsolete anti-lag and exploit reasons)
3. Every uncontrollable summon in UO has a red name, regardless of the fact they can't be targeted by blue players in a Trammel ruleset facet
4. Many summons have a name identical to their wild counterparts, which is a problem (see 2 above)

Potential balance issues aside, I would advise increasing the stats and resistances of magery summons. A daemon summoned by a 120 mage should be on par with a rising colossus summoned by a 120 mystic. Increase the dispell resistance of said summons, as the mastery buff barely makes a difference. Decrease the cast time of blade spirits.

#2 Allow controllable summons to be cast in town at all times. Neutering 95% of the 8th circle for no real reason is counterproductive. 

#3 is a personal pet peeve. This issue could be easily resolved by either changing the notoriety hue of the summon to match that of the caster, making all summons their own unique hue (say aqua) or by simply appending [S] to their name. This would help with targeting issues in both clients and is hopefully an easy change to make.

#4 could be resolved via #3, though it's probably not a good idea to have summons with the exact name/hue as a wild mob. 


Edited to add: I would also like a gag placed on ALL necromancy summons. Listening to a gaggle of liches constantly cackling is beyond annoying!  

Mervyn

1) I think is only true for everything other than a daemon. Do you mean in pvp or pvm? As in pvm I see people summoning earth eles quite often. 

2) I’m pretty sure they can be used in towns, (just not summoned in towns), just out of interest, why do you need to summon in a town? As you can summon in a town when it turns vvv.

3) i don’t see an issue in the uncontrollable summon having a red name. Yes there is a targeting issue where attack nearest will attack friendly summons. But changing the notoriety hue to match the caster won’t fix the issue as many play a red and so their summons will also still be red but a guild friend’s macro will still attack them and their summons, same is true for greys. The attack nearest issue can I’m sure be resolved without changing the hue of the summon. 

4) please expand on why the default name is an issue. Although your idea of a unique hue for summons does hold water and could fix many targetting issues. 

If they increase the dispel resistance, they would also need to increase the casting time for balancing issues. 

(Your definition of “major problems” differs to mine.) 

Pawain

1. You must play with NOOBS if they summon Earth eles.  May as well wear a talisman of creatures or use your ridable Llama to fight stuff.
Lore one.

3. The red names need to go.  They are a pain at EM events.

Controllable Summons were good in pre 2000...

Time to make changes.

98% of the players play in Trammel.  What is a vvv town....